True confession: Most wine books bore me.
There are exceptions, of course. For me, those tend to be the authoritative reference works written by authors with impeccable credentials, such as Jancis Robinson, Robert M. Parker Jr., Hugh Johnson and my good friends and colleagues Ed McCarthy, Mary Ewing-Mulligan and Stephen Brook.
There is a new wine book loose upon the land, "The New York Times Book of Wine" ($24.95, Sterling Publishing), and I highly recommend it, though for reasons beyond the fact that it’s simply a good read whether you are a wine connoisseur or not.
The New York Times Book of Wine is an anthology from the archives of The New York Times. It represents the work of 28 different authors, including the likes of Frank Prial, R.W. Apple Jr. and Eric Asimov, who is currently the chief wine critic at the Times. It was edited by Howard G. Goldberg, a longtime editor at the Times and a frequent contributor to its wine pages.
If you have even a passing interest in wine, or wine and food, you will find much to like in The New York Times Book of Wine, but that’s not what I personally find most appealing.
This book harks back to a bygone era in wine journalism, before the rough and tumble of the Internet coarsened the dialogue on wine. While it is true that the Internet has exposed a trove of heretofore esoteric information on wine to those curious enough to type a few words into their Google search function, there is little doubt this flood of information also comes with its share of bogus commentary passing as expertise.
Not so in the era conjured up by this new book from The Times, which, for as long as I can remember, has covered wine with the same demanding standards of reportage that it covers general news. Not to mention the added bonus that the Times has always deployed serious students of wine — most of them would shy from the accusation they are "experts" — in its wine reportage and commentary.
At one time, many other newspapers across the land attempted to emulate the Times with their own staff-written columns and articles on wine. That day is long gone. News hole and staff resources have been shrinking at daily newspapers for more than a decade. The newspaper wine columnist is a dying breed in most U.S. cities.
The New York Times Book of Wine is not only a reminder, but gives historical context to the period when wine journalism, as practiced by newspapers, was at its peak.
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